Introductory speech – Dave Webb



Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in SpaceJeju Island International Peace Conference24-26 February 2012Welcome SpeechBy Dave WebbConvenor, Global Network; Chair, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, UKThank you Mayor Kang for your warm welcome and I would also like to thank the organising committee of the Jeju International Peace Conference for their hard work in putting this conference together; it’s wonderful to be here – and a real pleasure to be with you and enjoy your famous hospitality. I would also like to thank all those who have travelled a long way to get here. I know how busy everyone is – I think it is significant, and a clear indication of how important this place is at this time, that so many people have come from so far.So then, welcome everyone to the Global Network’s “International Annual Space Conference”. We couldn’t be in a better place to mark the 20th year of organising to keep space for peace and to help build a safer and a more peaceful world. It is a great honour for me to be here with you in the Park of Peace at the heart of such an inspiring campaign. The world has come to know of the passion and the courage of the people of Gangjeong Village. This Island, this village and you villagers are at the heart of the global struggle for the right to live in peace, free from the shadow of war and the machines of war. And from space the war machines can cast huge shadows.The Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space is a network of some 160 affiliated groups from the US, Europe, Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Scandinavia and of course Asia. Some of these are small local community groups, some are larger regional, national or even international organisations but they are all working for peaceful change and they all recognise the dangers of the growing militarization of space, the urgent need to reverse this and to keep space free from weapons and nuclear materials. During our 20 years of campaigning we have visited many communities around the world – in The United States, Canada, Germany, England, Australia, and we were in South Korea for the first time just 3 years ago. We have met with, talked to and learned from people working in campaigns centred in major cities such as New York, Washington, Melbourne, Seoul and Vancouver. But we have also joined smaller, locally based groups who can’t and won’t let the presence of a nearby contributor to war go unnoticed. These groups and these people act as the conscience of their communities – they know that, for us to survive, war has to be made obsolete and for that to happen the roots of war have to be challenged at every opportunity and wherever they exist. This means not only the ways by which war is fought but also the ways and means by which it is justified and enabled. Therefore, there could be no better place than here and no better time than now to hold our annual meeting and to focus on the problems of missile defence and the militarization of space.Thanks to the work of all of you here, the world is becoming more familiar with the ways in which the technologies of global military domination affect people. Because of your work, the ways in which communities, traditions and heritage are being wiped out to make way for the machines of war, are being questioned and challenged. At this conference we hope to be working together to share ideas and develop our strategies further to help us organise in this struggle. And we are all in for an amazing time at this conference! There are some wonderful people here with so much knowledge and experience and we have a fantastic opportunity to discuss the things that challenge our security, our quality of life and our very existence.Asia has been a particular focus of the Global Network for a while now and our campaigning message has been that the US is encircling Russia and China with missile ‘defense’ systems that are key elements in the Pentagon’s hegemonic programmes. President Obama’s deployment of US Navy Aegis destroyers, built in the US at Bath Iron Works in Maine, where Bruce has his home, and armed with SM-3 missiles throughout Asia region, and to be stationed here, in your home, are hardly positive steps towards a more secure and peaceful world. The US and NATO joint installations of ground-based Patriot interceptors in Central and Eastern Europe and the large number of US support bases around the world (such as Menwith Hill and Fylingdales, near my home in North Yorkshire, England) are increasing international tension and are among the greatest threat to world peace. Russia has already threatened to pull out of the recently signed Strategic Arms Reduction treaty (so called New START) and increase its nuclear arsenal in response to US missiles being stationed so close to its borders in Europe.And these missile deployments will be directed by space technology controlled from the US through its military bases around the world. And the importance of space technology to the war-fighter is increasing.Currently we are seeing the distinct possibility of an imminent war in Iran; the war and occupation of Afghanistan is continuing and there are increasing numbers of civilians being systematically murdered by armed drones in Pakistan. These activities are all made possible by space technology. Whether it is for surveillance, intelligence gathering (in other words, spying), communication, command or control, space satellites and ground based stations are crucial parts of this global network centric warfare system. It is so important therefore that the resistance to these activities also be networked – “together we are a force more powerful” and that is why we are all here.This Global Network Conferences give us all the opportunity of getting to know a few more people from around the world – to exchange information and share our concerns, our understanding and our knowledge and work together to prevent an arms race in outer space. It is so obvious to the vast majority of people on the planet that the huge sums of money spent on fighting wars and killing or planning to kill people could be much better spent on finding sustainable solutions to climate change, providing food, shelter and proper health and education facilities for all of us and for repairing and protecting our planet from the damage that we have caused. It is a formidable task to create this change but one that has to be tackled.Luckily, there are so many wonderfully inspiring and uplifting people involved in this work – some are well known but many are not and all of them deserve our thanks and recognition.To conclude, I would like to thank again everyone who has helped to put this conference together with very little resources and at a hugely difficult time for them. And I hope you will forgive me if I mention just one person – the coordinator of the Global Network, Bruce Gagnon, for his inspiring work, his magnificent blogs and wonderful speeches that continue to carry forth the crucial messages of our campaign. I know you will agree that he has done so much to bring the possible destruction of Gangjeong Village to the attention of the rest of the world.Finally, I hope you all have a wonderful and productive conference - I look forward to meeting and talking with you and working with you on how to mobilise and organise to face the huge challenges ahead. Thank you. ................
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